Oshiomhole returns, reveals why he was quizzed by DSS

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has dismissed insulations that he was arrested, detained and granted administrative bail by the Department of State Services (DSS), after a nine hours interrogation. The APC chairman travelled out of the country after he was interrogated by the DSS over allegations of collecting bribe during his party’s primary elections.

Oshiomhole came back to Nigeria on Friday after visiting his wife and Bola Tinubu, APC national leader, in the US and UK respectively. Speaking during an interaction with editors in Lagos today, Oshiomhole said he saw DSS only once and it was a conversation, not an arrest or detention. He said the conversation centred around APC primaries.

He questioned whether it is now the job of the DSS to interfere in a political party’s issues, adding that if there’s an allegation of corruption, it is the responsibility of EFCC and ICPC.

Oshiomhole lashed out at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for calling on Interpol to arrest him, and for insinuating that he had fled the country over the matter. The former labour leader alleged that “a few important members of APC may be conniving with PDP because they preferred the impunity of the PDP era”.

Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo and Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun are aggrieved over the APC primaries. They blame Oshiomhole for their inability to get the gubernatorial tickets of the party for their preferred candidates. Amosun has however said that he does not have a hand in Oshiomhole’s invitation by the DSS.